Oleg Vladimirovich Losev: Pioneer of Semiconductor Electronics (Celebrating One Hundred Years Since His Birth) M
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Physics of the Solid State, Vol. 46, No. 1, 2004, pp. 1–4. Translated from Fizika Tverdogo Tela, Vol. 46, No. 1, 2004, pp. 5–9. Original Russian Text Copyright © 2004 by Novikov. Oleg Vladimirovich Losev: Pioneer of Semiconductor Electronics (Celebrating One Hundred Years since His Birth) M. A. Novikov Losev was born in Tver into the family of a wagon works office worker, retired staff-captain of the Tzar army, and noble man. After he graduated from a Tver non-classical secondary school in 1920, he started to work at the Nizhni Novgorod Radio Laboratory (NNRL), where V.K. LebedinskiÏ became his supervi- sor of studies. After NNRL was closed in 1928, Losev, together with other leading collaborators, moved to Leningrad to work at the Central Radio Laboratory (CRL). From 1929 to 1933, at A.F. Ioffe’s invitation, Losev carried out investigations at the Ioffe Physicote- chnical Institute. From 1937 to 1942, Losev worked at the physics department of the Leningrad First Medical Institute. On January 22, 1942, Oleg Vladimirovich Losev died of starvation during the Leningrad blockade. The place of his burial is unknown. Up to the present time, only his works connected with the development of the crystadin were widely known in this country. Losev’s first work was devoted to the crystadin and was published in 1922. In that work, Losev showed that, when an additional dc volt- age is applied to a crystal detector, it can operate as an amplifier or a generator of electromagnetic waves. In modern terms, this means that in this case a crystalline detector becomes a two-terminal device with a falling current–voltage characteristic. It should be noted that a generating detector was first demonstrated in 1910 by the Englishman W.H. Eccles. On May 10, 2003, we celebrated the centenary of At that time, however, this interesting physical phe- the birth date of Oleg Vladimirovich Losev, an out- nomenon did not attract the attention of specialists in standing Russian scientist and inventor in the field of the radio field. Evidently, this is connected with the fact radio- and optoelectronics. that the author explained the mechanism of negative In his work at the Nizhni Novgorod Radio Labora- resistance on the basis of heat effects that occur at the tory and later in Leningrad at the Leningrad Central metal–semiconductor interface with allowance for the Radio Laboratory and in the physics department of the fact that the semiconductor resistance falls with First Medical Institute in the twenties and thirties of the increasing temperature. At that time, it was already last century, Losev made a number of important discov- known that this mechanism is the basis of the sounding eries and inventions that make him a pioneer in semi- arc, which is used to generate low-frequency radio conductor electronics. It should be noted, however, that waves in practical radio engineering. That was the rea- the importance of Losev’s outstanding scientific son why such devices were practically never used at achievements is underestimated both in this country and higher frequencies. abroad. In connection with the centenary of Losev’s Losev’s merit consists in that, using the example of birth, it is worth considering in detail and estimating his a zincite (ZnO) detector, by carrying out a series of very most outstanding scientific achievements from the mod- subtle experiments, he showed that in this case heat ern point of view in order to do this extraordinary scien- effects do not play any role and amplification is due to tist, who was ahead of his time, justice. electronic processes at the interface between a metallic 1063-7834/04/4601-0001 $26.00 © 2004 MAIK “Nauka/Interperiodica” 2 NOVIKOV tip and a semiconductor crystal. In particular, he dis- it was possible to create semiconductor devices that can covered that the zincite crystadin can generate and completely substitute for traditional radio lamps. It was amplify electromagnetic oscillations up to 10 MHz. At in the end of the 1920s that the idea of creating a solid- that time, this frequency range was not used even for state analog of a vacuum triode appeared. practical purposes. Losev’s merit consists in the fact As it has been learned recently that this idea was not that he applied this phenomenon in practice. He created foreign to Losev. In 1929–1931, while working on the a series of crystadin radio receivers which were used in experimental base of the Leningrad Physicotechnical a number of state radio stations. Crystadins were espe- Institute, he continued his studies (following the sug- cially popular with radio amateurs, who managed to gestion of A.F. Ioffe) of the new physical effects in establish even intercontinental radio contacts with the semiconductors that he discovered when working at help of simple crystal receivers and transmitters based NNRL. In particular, he investigated a semiconductor on a crystadin and energized from batteries with a volt- device identical to the structure of a point transistor. age of several volts. It was the simplicity and practical The operation of this device is known to be based on the value of the crystadin that caused a wide wave of inter- control of current flowing between two electrodes with est in it in the world. Newspapers and respectable sci- the help of an auxiliary electrode. Losev actually entific journals in Europe and America wrote about it as observed this effect, but, unfortunately, the total gain fac- of a sensational invention in the mid 1920s. Many sci- tor was insufficient to amplify a signal. However, for this entists foresaw that the coming revolution in radios purpose, he used only a silicized carbon crystal (SiC) and would be connected with Losev’s crystadin. did not use a zincite crystal (ZnO), which has signifi- Unfortunately, at that time, Losev’s discovery was cantly better characteristics in a crystadin amplifier. not properly developed. Notwithstanding his heroic Until recently, it was considered that, after being efforts, Losev failed to eliminate the main practical forced to resign from the Physicotechnical Institute, drawback of the crystadin, namely, its unstable opera- Losev did not return to the idea of semiconductor tion due to mechanical contact of a metal tip with a crys- amplifiers. However, the existence of a very interesting tal. Furthermore, in the mid 1920s, the crystadin could document, written by Losev himself, has recently not compete with vacuum radio lamps, because that was become known. This document is dated July 12, 1939, the period of their most intensive improvement and all and is currently stored at the Polytechnic Museum. The the practical problems regarding their usage in radio document, titled Oleg Vladimirovich Losev’s Biogra- engineering at that time were solved. These advances, in phy, contains interesting facts from his life and a list of fact, were due, to a significant degree, to the studies per- his scientific achievements. The following lines are of formed at NNRL, where Losev worked. special interest: “It has been established that a three- Despite the efforts of well-known physicists, includ- electrode system analogous to a triode and showing ing Nobel Prize laureate R.A. Millikan, as well as the negative resistance, like a triode, can be built on the investigations of Losev himself, the mechanism of the basis of semiconductors. At the present time, I am pre- falling current–voltage curve of the crystadin was not paring these findings for publication.” puzzled out at that time. Now, it became clear that an Unfortunately, the fate of these findings has not been understanding of this mechanism could not be gained established so far; they could have completely changed without quantum mechanics. However, in the mid the notion of transistor invention history, one of the 1920s, its physical basis had not yet been created and most revolutionary inventions of the twentieth century the band theory of semiconductors was developed only Other important scientific merits of Losev are con- in the early 1930s. nected with his investigations in the field of electrolu- Unfortunately, the mechanism of Losev’s zincite minescence and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Losev’s crystadin has not been explained so far. The point is investigations in the field of electroluminescence have that, at the present time, about a dozen physical pro- been well known since the 1920s, and those studies are cesses are known that lead to the phenomenon of nega- referred even now. In the 1920s, the phenomenon of tive resistance. Many specialists link Losev’s crystadin electroluminescence was even called Losev light effect with Esaki junction, but so far no experiments (Lossew Licht) in the West for some time. For this rea- confirming this hypothesis have been performed. It son, Losev is justly considered abroad to be a pioneer would be interesting to repeat Losev’s experiments in the field of electroluminescence. However, it is not with zincite now using modern methods of investiga- known whether Losev was the inventor of LED. He was tion. This would be especially interesting now as great the first to see huge perspectives in such light sources interest is being shown in this crystal by optoelectron- and point out their high brightness and high response ics engineers. speed. He is also the owner of the first patent for the We should reject the opinion of science historians invention of a device with an electroluminescent light that the interest in Losev’s crystadin had completely source (light relay). disappeared by the end of the 1920s. Attempts to use At the end of the 1970s, when electroluminescent the crystadin were made later as well, but the main light sources began to be widely used in the West, point is that Losev’s crystadin phenomenon proved that H.F.